The Road - Aspects Of Narrative.

The First 28 Pages.

BEGINNING
 - In the first 28 pages we are introduced to 4 threads of narrative, the man, the boy, the wife and the Earth. 
 - The beginning of this novel sets the scene and also introduces the genre of horror that follows through the novel. "Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more grey each one that what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world" It introduces the reader to the type of novel they're reading and what style of language they will be reading.
- The reader is introduced to the theme of religion and god. "If he is not the word of God God never spoke"
- The reader is also introduced to the relationship of father and son and we establish the bond between them. We learn that the narrator does not address the man as 'Father' or 'Dad'. We feel that the man doesn't feel he is worthy of the title 'Father'.

ENDING
-The end of the first 28 pages sets up a lot of questions that should be answered, but in this novel they are not "Can you do it? when the time comes? can you?"  Us as readers want to connect and be drawn into the novel and to do this McCarthy tricks you into thinking you're going to eventually find out the answers. We wonder where they are, what has happened and who they are.
- We also experience a flashback. We are told about some of the things that happened in the road a few years back. "In those first years the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded up in their clothing. Wearing masks and goggles" It's showing us that awful things happened on the roads a few years ago and sets us up for more bad events to take place. It sets the genre

CHARACTERIZATION
-  We experience some dialogue. We realise that along with the setting being bland and dull, the conversation also follows.
- The very first sentence in the novel shows the affection the man has to the child "he'd reach out and touch the child behind him" Although throughout the novel the man doesn't show much emotion and affection towards the boy this shows that he does care. The only reason he is carrying on with the journey is for his sake. This is proven when the boy asks "What would you do if I died? If you died I would die too. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you" The boy is his motivation, his light at the end of the tunnel and all he wants is to make him happy, to make himself worthy of the child, but he feels he has let him down.
- Following this, "His hand rose and feel softly with each precious breath" A description of the man that we would not expect after reading the rest of the novel. Our vision of the man is a very hard faced, strong headed and tough guy. (The total opposite of that quote) But this shows that under his hard face he is just like a normal father trying to protect his son and does have emotions.
- The boy is portrayed as a quite figure that's always in the shadow of the man. He's very inquisitive. "What are you doing?" "Can I see?" What would you do if I died?" It shows how confused he is about the whole situation. He knows it's not normal but his father acts like it is.

SETTING
- In the first sentence the word "Dark" i used, this tells us automatically the surroundings are not scenic ones. This sets the tone of the novel right from the start.
-"Everything paling away into the murk" Every things disappearing under ash and any sign of hope is fading away, this could also include the man and the boy, through the journey the fathers hope and faith runs thin and pales away.
- The settings are described very dull to go along with the horror theme. "The city was mostly burned. No sign of life" Although McCarthy describes the city being burnt he says "mostly" I think this shows that although there is nothing else showing signs of hope there is still the man and son keeping the human race alive.
"As far as they could see was burned away" All his past memories are burnt, there’s no way of retrieving them or rescuing them they're all gone. In the future all the boys past memories will be this experience.
"The mummied dead everywhere" There is no positive outcome wherever they arrive; death just follows them, like it's waiting for them itself.

JOURNEY
-Their journey never seems to improve; they're on one massive journey towards south. We have hope that the man and his son will arrive safely and there will be something there when they have reached their destination, this grips us onto the story and we connect with it. There journey moves quite quickly as most of the time each separate paragraph is them either walking along the road or at a different location. It's an endless journey for them.

TIME
- "The minutes of the earth and the hours of the days of it and the years without cease" This shows us that they feel time has just formed into one and they have lost track of it, they don't care for it. They have nothing to attend or nowhere to be for a certain time so why should it matter? Something as simple as knowing the time has erased from their lives.